Chapter 15

Fang Minghui was taken aback. Before she could say anything, another boy rushed over and said hurriedly, "No! She’s mine!"

Song Zining’s face suddenly darkened, and he said coldly, "What are you, to dare to compete with me for a woman?"

The boy’s face turned pale, and he stammered, "B-but you already have two women."

"Two are not enough," Song Zining said indifferently.

The boy was momentarily speechless by this, glanced at Qian Ye with a look of reluctance, and slowly retreated.

The boy was with a few other companions. When he ran over, the others remained where they were, watching this scene.

At this moment, a tall youth walked over and said in a deep voice, "Song Zining, this is not right. We have always respected you and given way to you. But you can’t take all the benefits for yourself, and you shouldn’t bully my brother!"

Qian Ye recognized this youth; his name was Wu Jin, and he ranked just below Song Zining, though the gap in their scores was not significant.

Song Zining paid no attention to Wu Jin’s seemingly calm but threatening words and said with a cold laugh, "So what if I bully your brother?"

Wu Jin’s eyes narrowed, and he began to emit a terrifying killing aura. He said slowly, "There doesn’t seem to be that much of a gap between us. Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since we had a serious fight!"

"That’s because you’re afraid to challenge me, not because I’m avoiding it," Song Zining said with a cold laugh. Then he suddenly straightened his body, and a sharp, blade-like killing intent soared into the air!

Song Zining stretched his joints and said with a cold laugh, "Wu Jin, you’re not stupid enough to take that score sheet seriously, are you? How about we go to the fighting room now? But this time, I won’t hold back. After this fight, your second place will be nothing but a joke!"

Faced with Song Zining’s challenge, Wu Jin’s expression changed repeatedly. He let out a heavy snort and turned to leave.

Song Zining said to Wu Jin’s back, "Wu Jin, if you want to team up with others, do it soon. In two months, I’ll ignite my second node!"

A Second-Class Warrior!

Wu Jin’s whole body trembled. He turned his head and looked at Song Zining in disbelief, then hurried away, his momentum completely gone.

The dozen or so children watching were equally shocked and immediately became even more respectful to Song Zining. Fang Minghui, glancing around, quickly stood beside Song Zining and said softly, "Whatever Brother Song wants me to do, I’ll do it. I can accompany anyone."

Song Zining pointed to Fang Minghui and said to Qian Ye, "Qian Ye, she’s yours. In a place like this, if you don’t take what you deserve, others will start to doubt you and constantly test you. Showing your strength appropriately will reduce a lot of trouble."

Qian Ye was about to decline but was stopped by Song Zining’s determined gaze. He had no choice but to let Fang Minghui stay by his side.

After returning to his bed, Qian Ye was still thinking about what had just happened.

Song Zining wanted to tell Qian Ye that strength is the key to everything. Without strength, when facing someone like Song Zining, one either has to back down or be killed on the spot.

Even Wu Jin, who was second in rank, could only leave in humiliation when facing Song Zining. As for Fang Minghui, a girl who ranked near the bottom, following any man had nothing to do with her own will.

Qian Ye felt he understood Song Zining’s meaning.

Fang Minghui quietly climbed onto Qian Ye’s bed, but Qian Ye, who had been tormented by the martial arts technique all day, had no interest in her. He touched her soft waist and then quickly fell into a deep sleep.

In the following days, Fang Minghui always stayed by Qian Ye’s side. Although Qian Ye did not touch her, he did not ask her to leave. Among the students, Qian Ye’s overall ranking was still quite high, usually hovering around tenth place.

This was due to his excellent performance in every subject, especially in knowledge courses and subjects related to firearms and machinery, where Qian Ye’s performance was nearly perfect. Although his physical fitness was slightly inferior, his combat skills, due to his exceptional ruthlessness, kept his ranking around twentieth.

Song Zining was right. With Qian Ye’s current overall ranking, he had the right to have a fixed female companion. His reluctance to find one was seen by others as a sign of weakness.

Life in the training camp was never dull.

One day during a machinery class, Qian Ye used simple tools and, after more than ten failures, finally successfully processed a high-precision cartridge case. Qian Ye was very satisfied with his work. Making a cartridge case was easy, but producing a high-precision one without precision tools was much more difficult, requiring a high degree of control over force and movement.

This was a core skill for battlefield repairs. With this ability, Qian Ye could repair damaged firearms or other weapons on most battlefields, which was of great significance.

While Qian Ye was admiring his work, a girl’s voice suddenly sounded beside him, "Impressive!"

Qian Ye turned his head and saw a girl standing next to him, looking at the cartridge case in his hand.

She was only average in appearance but had a very good figure, already over 1.7 meters tall. This girl, named Mimi, was one of the few girls in the class who did not need to rely on others. Her overall ranking was higher than Qian Ye’s, consistently at sixth place.

"Just a stroke of luck," Qian Ye said, casually tossing the cartridge case aside.

Mimi, however, picked it up, examined it carefully, and said to Qian Ye, "I’m interested in you. Having you in the team means we won’t have to worry about damaged firearms or running out of ammunition in the future."

"My repair skills aren’t much better than yours," Qian Ye remembered that Mimi’s performance in various mechanical subjects was not much lower than his.

"Such skills are never too much! It seems you’re not interested in Fang Minghui. How about becoming my partner in the future?" Mimi invited him directly.

Qian Ye frowned slightly and asked, "Partner? What kind of partner?"

"No, a combat partner," Mimi suddenly leaned close to Qian Ye and whispered, "It seems you’re not interested in women, and I’m not interested in men. Our combat styles complement each other, so it’s a perfect match. We can team up in future battles!"

Qian Ye was genuinely intrigued by this proposal and nodded, "Let me think about it."

In the following months, Qian Ye and Mimi interacted more and spent more time together. Fang Minghui was rudely driven away by Mimi.

Song Zining had no objections to this. He just wanted to give Qian Ye a female companion, and who it was didn’t matter. From the perspective of helping Qian Ye, Mimi was clearly much stronger than Fang Minghui.

During this time, Qian Ye and Mimi often sparred in combat classes. Mimi’s combat style was quite refined, combining delicate and steady defense with unpredictable attacks, and her practical combat level was even higher than Qian Ye’s. Song Zining once privately mentioned that Mimi seemed to have a foundation before entering the training camp.

Qian Ye, of course, would not use his injury-for-injury tactics against her, so he often lost in their sparring matches. Over time, Qian Ye’s combat skills improved rapidly through these exchanges.

Thus, in the middle of the year, the children faced their first true survival exam.

All ten classes of students would be dropped into a vast, primitive mountainous area, along with hundreds of dark race warriors.

The students had to survive for ten days in this vast and complex mountainous region. During this period, their enemies were not only the dark race but also other students. On the evaluation score sheet, killing a dark race warrior and killing a student were worth the same points.

The exam rules were simple: killing a dark race warrior or a student would immediately pass the exam. The top ten in terms of kills would receive additional rich rewards.

If one lacked the ability to kill others, they needed to hide well. The exam would end when the number of students in the exam area was reduced to six hundred, or when ten days had passed.

Each student was issued a regular dagger, the only weapon allowed in the exam.

At dusk, a sharp whistle, like that of a night owl, sounded, signaling the start of the exam.

Qian Ye quickly entered the forest and hid himself. He only emerged from his hiding place after nightfall, beginning to search and advance cautiously.

Qian Ye blended into the darkness, moving very patiently and observing the surroundings. His movements were very slow, and he made almost no sound while advancing. His excellent performance in the wilderness survival course paid off in practical terms, as Qian Ye meticulously executed every stealth and concealment action and made adjustments based on the terrain.

As Qian Ye passed a large tree, he suddenly stopped in the shadows and remained still. About ten meters away, two students suddenly appeared and immediately engaged in a fierce battle. The fight was over in a few minutes, with one of the boys being stabbed several times and falling to the ground!

The victorious boy, still unsatisfied, viciously stabbed the corpse a few more times before pulling a special whistle from the dead boy’s waist, examining the notches on the whistle, and muttering curses.

The surviving boy had several knife wounds. He quickly treated his wounds to stop the bleeding and then took out the whistle, preparing to blow it. These whistles were specially made, and when blown with original energy, the sound could travel several kilometers. The instructors scattered throughout the exam area would arrive promptly upon hearing the whistle, verify the results, and then remove the successful student from the exam area.

The whistle was already in his mouth, but the boy no longer had the strength to blow it. A dagger’s blade suddenly appeared in front of his throat!

The boy turned in shock but could no longer speak, only pointing at Mimi, who emerged from the depths of the forest, before slowly collapsing.

Mimi bent down to pull the dagger from the dead boy’s body and searched them, taking their daggers and two whistles. These special whistles had numbers on them, serving as the students’ identity markers for the exam.

At the end of the exam, the rankings would be determined by the number of whistles each student had. Those who lost their whistles would rank at the bottom, even if they survived.

Mimi sheathed the dagger in the leather scabbard at her waist, suddenly sensing something. She looked in Qian Ye’s direction and called out, "Who’s there! Come out!"